Hub Invasion
by Galadriel1010
Summary: Living at work has its problems - like the insomniac people you work with


**Author's Note:** Once again, I have no idea. This might turn into a longer story one day, but it's a oneshot for the moment. Enjoy :)  


* * *

Ianto smiled to himself, quietly content. Jack's arms were warm and secure around him, and his chest was a comfortable support at Ianto's back. They'd had a busy day, but it had ended at a reasonable time and the others had gone home, leaving Jack and Ianto free to have dinner at one of the restaurants on Mermaid Quay and then a quiet night in on the sofa watching TV off the laptop on Ianto's lap. At some point, nights like this had turned from an occasional thing to being just what they did when they got a night off. Sometimes they'd go out and see a band Ianto wanted to see, or to the cinema or to see a show, but most nights they spent on the sofa watching TV. It was nice, almost normal, and quietly reassuring.

The door alarms shattered the peace and one of Jack's arms tightened around Ianto whilst the other fumbled for his gun, which was in his desk drawer a hundred yards away. Ianto sat up and set the laptop out of the way, but they both relaxed when Owen grumbled through the door. Jack held Ianto in place when he made to get up. "Owen, what are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

Owen frowned at them for a second and turned away. "Oh Gods, do you ever stop? No, nothing's wrong. Just gave up on pulling. Don't mind me. I've got some experiments running that I wanted to check."

Ianto looked at Jack and made to get up again, but Jack's hands were firm guiding him back down and against Jack's chest. He sighed. "Jack..."

"Shh," Jack whispered, kissing the back of his neck. "Just ignore him. We can carry on watching it."

Ianto nodded and relaxed as much as he could, retrieving the laptop and returning the download to where they'd got to before they were interrupted. They were watching a satirical quiz show from the BBC, and the sheer fun of laughing at people they had to deal with on a professional level started to relax them again. Unfortunately, there was still the matter of the invader, whose crashings around the medical bay had increased in volume until he was drowning out the feed periodically. Ianto found himself tensing up again, despite Jack's attempts to sooth him; they might have been more successful if he wasn't quite so wound up himself.

"Get a room, for fuck's sake," Owen scoffed, clattering to his desk to rifle through it. "Ianto, couldn't make me a coffee, could you?"

"Owen, go home," Jack snapped, holding Ianto in place when he tried to scramble up. His arms were so tight they were almost painful, and Ianto squeezed Jack's hand tightly until his grip softened and Ianto could move again. He still held on, though, and every muscle was tense, probably with the same urge to punch Owen that Ianto was feeling.

"There's fuck all to do, besides..."

"Your experiments will wait until morning," Jack pointed out "You weren't planning to check them tonight, after all. And there's always porn."

"I'm not that desperate," he shot back.

Jack huffed and squeezed Ianto apologetically, then eased out from behind him and stalked towards Owen. Ianto found himself at a loss and got up anyway, heading for the coffee machine. "Coffee?"

"Owen's not staying," Jack snapped.

"No, but I am. You want one?"

Jack sighed and nodded, then turned back to Owen. "Look. Ianto and I stay here so that you lot don't have to cover nights. If we're not going to have a night rota then you can at least do us the courtesy of accepting that we don't have anywhere else to go, and that we're not actually on duty the whole time we're here."

"So what, we're not allowed in here?" Owen asked incredulously.

"Yeah, pretty much." Jack folded his arms, and Ianto dragged his gaze away from muscled forearms, revealed by rolled-up shirt sleeves, to make the coffee. Jack continued, "As common sense and decency don't seem to work, how about we say that from six at night until eight in the morning, the Hub is ours. Just pretend we work from home and you work for us, okay?"

"And if you want to come over, try ringing the bell or calling ahead, just like you would for Tosh or Gwen," Ianto put in. "But you might find that we're out for dinner, or in bed, or just not in the mood. I know it's a strange concept, Owen, but we are actually human."

"What about the girls?" he asked.

"They have lives," Jack told him scornfully. "They don't need to come around here because they couldn't pick up and have nothing better to do. Go home."

Ianto kept his head down until Owen had slammed out of the Hub again, and who knew how he slammed the rolling door? He was nearly finished when Jack's hands rested on his waist again. "Take the afternoon off with me tomorrow?" he asked.

"What for?"

He turned around and offered Jack his mug. "Flat hunting. I'll draw up a rota in the morning."

Jack accepted the mug and rested his hand on Ianto's cheek, rubbing his thumb against rough stubble. "It won't last."

"I know. Doesn't mean we can't try, though." He paused to consider it. "Or would that mean that Owen has won?"

Jack laughed and toasted him with the mug. "Give it a month, then we'll start looking at moving out, okay?"

"Very." he picked up his own mug and pushed at Jack's shoulder to guide him back to the sofa. "I'm glad we were watching this on iPlayer."


End file.
